Detroit Free Press Business Writer

Related Links

Brothers Michael and Peter Solaka announced over the weekend that their Ye Olde Butcher Shoppe, 3100 Woodward, will be closing after just 16 months. / Jessica J. Trevino/Detroit Free Press

Possible reasons why Ye Olde Butcher Shoppe failed

■ Two-year delay in opening ■ Insufficient time to cultivate customers before Whole Foods ■ Multiple and costly break-ins ■ Store too small to attract suburban customers but too big to staff without lots of employees. The store closed with 10 employees after opening with 15. ■ Many shoppers just preferred nearby Whole Foods.

More

ADVERTISEMENT

For the owners of one upscale mom-and-pop grocery, setting up shop in Detroit’s revitalizing Midtown district proved an experience of endless setbacks and few lucky breaks.

Brothers Michael and Peter Solaka announced over the weekend that their Ye Olde Butcher Shoppe, 3100 Woodward, will be closing its doors after just 16 months.

The 7,500-square-foot store, which offered extensive deli and wine selections as well as basic and gourmet food staples, ultimately could not compete with the nearby Whole Foods Market, which opened in June with more variety and three times the floor space. The Solakas said they experienced an immediate 60% drop in business that more or less became permanent when the national chain arrived.

But in an interview Monday, Michael Solaka said he doesn’t believe his store’s demise was inevitable as soon as Whole Foods moved in.

As he sees it, Ye Olde Butcher Shoppe endured a string of misfortunes and challenges ranging from poor timing to out-of-control crime that underscore just how difficult it still is to run a successful independently owned business in one of Detroit’s trendiest areas.

“A lot of people felt that no matter what we did that we wouldn’t make it against Whole Foods,” Solaka said. “I can categorically say that we believe that is not true. Because stores like this co-exist with Whole Foods all over the country.”

“But Detroit is Detroit. So we had more challenges, more headaches, more expenses, more delays because it is what it is,” he said.

One problem was timing. The Solakas, whose family operated the original Ye Olde Butcher Shoppe in Detroit’s Lafayette Park from 1972 to 1989, initially sought to open their Midtown grocery in mid-to-late 2010.

But the opening was delayed two years following a string of problems, including a flood in the building’s basement and the bankruptcy of the original landlord.

By the time the Whole Foods Market was officially announced in July 2011, the brothers felt they were too heavily invested in their project to pull out, despite the overlapping demographics of two high-end Midtown grocers. They also believed they could carve out a market niche and compete.

When their shop finally did open on Oct. 22, 2012, it had just seven months to cultivate a customer base before Whole Foods burst on the scene. And opening day was more bitter than sweet; vandals broke a store window that night and ransacked the place.

“The day we opened, that night, it began,” Michael Solaka recalled Monday. “They took out a large window in the back of the store and they stole all kinds of knives and cutlery and expensive items.”

The scenario repeated itself three or four more times — “it was a free-for-all” — before Wayne State University’s police department offered to expand the boundaries of its patrols to guard the butcher shop.

“So they put a stop to it. But not until after we had spent $30,000 of precious capital in the first 3 months to fix everything,” he said, explaining that insurance didn’t cover the string of incidents due to a per-incident deductible.

Despite those early setbacks, Solaka said he thinks his shop could still have succeeded if it had more time to get established before Whole Foods arrived.

The Solakas were not the only parties to lose money. At least $130,000 in community grant money was spent assisting the butcher shop from organizations including Midtown Detroit Inc., the Detroit Economic Growth Corp. and Michigan Economic Development Corp.

Sue Mosey, executive director of Midtown Detroit Inc., said two other factors that probably hindered the store were its name, which didn’t reflect the large variety of products for sale, and the size of the store, which may have been too small to attract a suburban crowd but too big to operate profitably because of staffing needs.

“We’re saddened and disappointed because you hate to lose anything that was well done and quality curated,” Mosey said. “But on the other hand, I don’t think any of us really thought long-term that model could work.”

The butcher shop’s departure will open up prime retail space along Woodward, not far from the Red Wings’ new planned arena.

“Do I think a store like this will happen again anytime soon? Probably not,” Solaka said Monday. “Because most of the people who would be able to do it have already decided not to, for 30 years.”

He added: “We decided to do it, against all of their advice ... Maybe we should have listened.”